Le Mans 24 Hours 14th hour: #1 Audi e-tron escapes incident

By Tom Mallett

Sunday, June 17th 2012, 03:21 GMT

The battle for the overall lead of the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours continues with Andre Lotterer maintaining a narrow margin over Allan McNish in the other Audi e-tron as the 14th hour came to a close under yellow, despite a spin for the #1.

The #75 Prospeed Porsche hit the wall at the Porsche Curves and repair work is taking place leading to the second safety car period of the race.

McNish had briefly taken the lead when Marcel Fassler spun at the Porsche Curves, catching the wall with the rear of his car and sustaining slight damage but after the pitstops the #1 Audi retook the lead under the stewardship of current fastest lap man Lotterer.

Oliver Jarvis is the lead Audi ultra driver in the #4 car, as he continues to build his lead over the first of the non-Audi contenders, the #12 Lola driven by Nicolas Prost.

In LMP2 the battle for class honours continues between #44 Starworks HPD and #49 ORECA-Nissan, with both cars now solidly in the top 10 overall, lying seventh and eighth.

Brendon Hartley in the #48 Murphy ORECA-Nissan had an incident at the final chicane, sustaining rear suspension damage and failing to restart. The car is yet to return to the pits and has now slipped from fifth position in class to 12th and 19th overall.

At the hour mark it is Toni Vilander in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari who leads the battle for GTE Pro honours by a small margin from Jaime Melo in the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari with Darren Turner trailing by a lap in his #97 Aston Martin.

Despite the problems for its Pro drivers, Chevrolet is currently leading GTE Am with #50 Larbre Chevrolet entry by Patrick Bornhauser, although the #67 Porsche driven by Nicolas Armindo is close behind.

NOTES

- Faisal spins the #75 Porsche at Porsche Curves, hitting the wall to bring the safety car out

- Marcel Fassler spins the #1 Audi e-tron at the Porsche curves, handing the lead to McNish

- Dumas tipped into a spin while passing traffic at Ford chicane

- Davidson confirms he sustained a broken back as a result of huge earlier crash

- Westbrook loses a wheel, and with it the lead of the GTE Pro class

- Peter Dumbreck suffers blow-out in the #22 JRM HPD

- Spin at Ford chicane for #21 Strakka HPD

- Problems for the #7 Toyota following collision with DeltaWing at the restart

- #29 Gulf Racing Lola B12 the first official retirement

- #40 hit with a two-minute stop and go penalty for second pitlane speeding offence